The Piano
by Austere One
Summary: Bradley and Vanessa meet at a bus station after the talent show. Once they become more than friends something awful happens. Is love keeping them together or is something else? RR! Thanks.


I saw her fingers gliding on the keys. Each strike of the key sent off vibration that went through my whole body. There's this kind of air around her that no one is immune to, that I could only see. Immediately, I was set into a trance.

"Bradley, dude Bradley! Youz there?"

The music was beautiful, and how she moved with the melody was beyond words. I couldn't see anything around me. Not the velvet curtains nor the stage, but just the girl playing the piano.

"Snapz out of it man, we have a home game tonight! We're gonna murder em."

I rubbed my eyes and stared. Everything was becoming much clearer; I came back into the world. Now I could see her beautiful dress as it swayed with the tune.

"You remember me, your fucking best friend Charlie?" he shouted.

"Yeah don't yell, a talent show is going on, shut the hell up."

The music stopped. The girl playing the piano stopped and stood up. She looked across the room and our eyes locked.

_Is she looking at me? Damn it! We must have been talking to loud. _

She sat back down and started playing again. Once again I was memorized.

Her brown hair was twirled into a bun so that you could see her beautiful emerald eyes each note that she pushed on the piano made me want to see her smile. Her skin was fair and perfectly matched her stunning blue suede dress that she was wearing. I've never played the piano; but I could tell that each note was perfectly tuned as if one of the gods came down to earth and put a spell on it.

"Letsss get out of here." Charlie whispered as he cleverly snuck out of his seat.

I could see that the lady behind me was getting more paranoid with each second that past. Drops of sweat started pouring down my face as the lady rapidly started to kick my chair.

"You must be high you're slurring all your words. Lets just meet at the lockers an hour before the game, I want to watch this."

His dark eyes swept over to mine, eyebrows furrowed. I reached into my pocket and gave him an cold stare. "What the hell are you talkin about? Nothins wrong. Screw this talent show and give me the goddam keys, your walking there."

Me and Charlie have been best buds since 2nd grade, I knew I could trust him and I didn't want to cause a scene. We met in our school musical, which our parents made us join, called _Stone Soup_. He had the darkest hair I've ever seen that matched with his black eyes. We were the chorus and had exactly the same lines; once we became friends we were inseparable.

I threw him the keys, "See you there," and with that the curtains closed.

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I needed to meet that girl. I was only in band my freshman year so she probably came to our school in my Sophomore year. Those days were fun; no tackling or no running just the sound of music entering my soul.

"Hey, Mr. Shedd, the pit did great playing all the music in the talent show!"

"Yeah you should come back Bradley, we need another saxophone."

He always tried to bring me back in band; after all I was one of his star students. But being a junior and quarterback of the football team, it wouldn't fit my schedule.

I wanted to get straight to the point, "Do you know that girl who played the piano during the show? The one with her hair tied up and all."

"Ahh Vanessa Jennings," he rubbed his chin, "she's in my 4th period wind ensemble band and is a junior, just like you."

"Cool thanks." But why did he wink? Did I actually like her? I don't even know her.

The fresh air. It wasn't a very far walk to the school, only a block away from the theater.

It's going to be a big game tonight, we are playing our rival school, Mount Carmel. They always beat us but tonight was our game. We practiced so much and with our coaches new plans we knew we could win.

I looked at my clock 3:30pm, the game started at 6:30. Only 3 hours left, that gave me 2 hours to do nothing. I threw my feet on the benched and laid down.

_Vanessa Jennings sounds like a good name. She probably came to our high school during my sophomore year. I probably won't even see her again, I shouldn't have quit band. I was once considered a music freak but now I'm a jock. There's just something about her that I want to know more about._

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"Excuse me," someone tapped my shoulder, "Can I sit down here, you're not the only one waiting for the bus."

It was her. Forgetting her sarcastic remark, I had to think of something clever to say to her.

"S-s-sorry." What the HELL! I can't believe that came out, it should have been a pick up line. I stood up, getting ready to leave and not embarrass myself anymore.

"Where are you going? Is the bus not going to be here or something?" Her voice was sweet and had a hint of 'please don't leave me here I'm alone' tone.

"I'm pretty sure it's going to be here soon." She got up and started walking towards me.

"I remember you," Her eyes sheltered on mine, "You're that boy who was talking in the audience."

"I'm sorry about that, you see, my friend he's a bit crazy." Chuckling to myself I saw his face and tried to blur it out of my mind.

"The bus hasn't been here for 20 minutes, I'm afraid it's not coming. Then I'll have to walk home, alone." Vanessa calmly prodded, tilting her head. I watched her hair fall to the side and frowned.

I dug my hands in my pocket, "I'll walk home with you."

Her hand touched my arm, "Thanks!"

"By the way I'm Bradley, Bradley Gold." I can't believe I said that 007 style, she must have thought I am a totally geek.

"I'm Vanessa," she playfully shook my hand, "Vanessa Jennings."

"So Vanessa Jennings which way to your house?" I can't believe I'm walking her home! I love you bus driver for being so late and not coming; just my luck.

She pointed to the direction and protested, "Past Venus, through the Milky Way, after the Moon and towards the North Star

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I threw my sweater over my shoulder and slowly walked on the sidewalk, we were right in front of the park. Her voice snapped me out of my reverie and I turned to her. "So what's eating you?"

"What are you talking about? No problem here."

I was in denial. She knew it, too.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? I mean we've been talking to each other for an hour now, I'm sure you could tell me." There was something that made me want to spill my whole life story to her, but I settled with telling her about my newest problem.

"There's this girl that I was with. Yeah, well, she cheated and were not so together anymore," I stiffly confided, not one to get emotional. Truth was that I was more worried about my pride and reputation than the girl. No girl had ever dumped Bradley Gold had always been the other way around. Vanessa had no inkling of my egotistic thoughts though, and gave me an understanding look.

"Don't think of it as you didn't deserve her. Try to think of it as she didn't deserve a guy like you," she gently assuaged, placing a small hand on my shoulder. I was staring at her in subtle awe for a moment, when the coldness of the night caught her own attention. Vanessa gasped and put both arms on around her.

"Here," I put my sweater on her, "I'm not cold plus it looks like the perfect fit."

Ten minutes past and we were outside of her house. She lived in a nice community. It was hard to see in the dark but her house was painted scarlet peach. Her front yard wasn't huge, but that's okay. I could see she has two trees out in front- a sycamore, and a pine. Her drive way was covered by different colored stones each having a different size, I bet one of her parents are artist.

I glance up and catch her sparing me a look, and I grin as her cheeks stain a cute rouge.

"I guess this is it."

"I had a fun walk with you, thanks so much." Her lips meet my cheek my eyes remain trained on her as she flawlessly walked towards her front door. She stops turns around and sees me giving a small smile before she coyly returns one of her own, before she quickly goes inside.

I look down at the intertwining laces of my shoes, thinking about my situation. How would she feel, knowing that I want to be with her? This was the only time we saw each other, but I doubt she knows what kind of reputation I have at school. Would she flinch away from me, declaring I was a bad person? Would she give me a chance? Vanessa is definitely the first girl I've ever had serious feelings for and she's different from any other girl that I've even spared a glance. Something inside me is telling me that this time though, different is good.

My clocked beeped. _Holy shit its 7:00pm._

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